Posted on 09/03/2005 10:56:42 PM PDT by XHogPilot
IEM Team to Develop Catastrophic Hurricane Disaster Plan for New Orleans & Southeast Louisiana June 3, 2004
IEM, Inc., the Baton Rouge-based emergency management and homeland security consultant, will lead the development of a catastrophic hurricane disaster plan for Southeast Louisiana and the City of New Orleans under a more than half a million dollar contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
In making the announcement today on behalf of teaming partners Dewberry, URS Corporation and James Lee Witt Associates, IEM Director of Homeland Security Wayne Thomas explained that the development of a base catastrophic hurricane disaster plan has urgency due to the recent start of the annual hurricane season which runs through November. National weather experts are predicting an above normal Atlantic hurricane season with six to eight hurricanes, of which three could be categorized as major.
The IEM team will complete a functional exercise on a catastrophic hurricane strike in Southeast Louisiana and use results to develop a response and recovery plan. A catastrophic event is one that can overwhelm State, local and private capabilities so quickly that communities could be devastated without Federal assistance and multi-agency planning and preparedness.
Thomas said that the greater New Orleans area is one of the nation’s most vulnerable locations for hurricane landfall.
“Given this area’s vulnerability, unique geographic location and elevation, and troubled escape routes, a plan that facilitates a rapid and effective hurricane response and recovery is critical,” he said. “The IEM team’s approach to catastrophic planning meets the challenges associated with integrating multi-jurisdictional needs and capabilities into an effective plan for addressing catastrophic hurricane strikes, as well as man-made catastrophic events.”
IEM President and CEO Madhu Beriwal is the recipient of a s pecial merit award from the Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Association ( LEPA ) for her work in New Orleans hurricane emergency preparedness.
James Lee Witt's fingerprints ping
Let's not forget - hurricane season ain't over till it's over.
There could be others. I bet there will!
This comes under the heading of:
Should I say this? Can I say this? Do I really want to say this...
You can present the best disaster plan every concocted, but if the powers that be don't implement it, it won't save one life.
$500K hugh? That's a chunk of change.
Ping to all interested in New Orleans political failure...
Wait............just wait........I have to find something.....
---Clinton's FEMA Director, James Lee Witt, took half a million dollars to prepare a hurricane plan for New Orleans.---
And now the Governor's bring him down to be in charge of the recovery!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1476788/posts
Great find. I will be posting some interesting FR threads about James Witt.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1476788/posts
Louisiana governor hires FEMA ex-director James Lee Witt
Associated Press | September 3, 2005
Posted on 09/03/2005 7:29:17 PM PDT by HAL9000
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Arkansan James Lee Witt, the former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency under President Bill Clinton, joined the Louisiana government Saturday to help direct the recovery from Hurricane Katrina.
Witt, who ran FEMA from 1993 to 2001, said he will stay as long as he as needed.
"He will sit at the table for me, and he will be my voice at the table," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said.
Louisiana officials are getting stretched too thin and need help, she said.
"I like to hire the smartest people in the country," she added.
Witt has more than 25 years of disaster management experience.
FEMA had been strongly criticized in 1992 for its slow response to Hurricanes Andrew and Hugo. After Witt took over, the agency won praise for its vigorous reaction to Midwest floods and the 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles.
Blanco said that, when she told Mike Brown, FEMA's current head, that she hoped to hire him, "he said, `That is absolutely the right thing to do. He will make a huge difference.'"
At the National Hurricane Conference in March, Witt said putting FEMA under the Homeland Security Department hurt its ability to deal with natural disasters.
On Saturday, he said, "Now's not the time to point blame at anyone."
Witt was head of the Arkansas Office of Emergency Services when Clinton was Arkansas governor.
A gee .. another Dem with a plan huh?
MarMeme, now this is getting interesting!
I think I would rather walk.
Seems like their plan was but not limited too:
Run
Cleanup
Fix it
Pay us for our services
I have got to get a consultant gig with HLS.....$$$$$$ !
This is just amazing stuff!
Guess which other Clintoon top rat is in bed with Witt. None other than Weaslelly Clark.:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1230846/posts
Clark, Slater working for crisis management firm of ex-FEMA director Witt
Associated Press | September 29, 2004
Posted on 09/29/2004 3:25:56 PM PDT by HAL9000
LITTLE ROCK — Former NATO commander Wesley Clark and former Cabinet secretaries Rodney Slater and James Lee Witt, all from Arkansas, are forming a crisis management dream team.
Witt used his experience running the Federal Emergency Management Agency to build a firm to help clients handle large-scale emergencies. The former Yell County judge and director of Arkansas' emergency management office, ran FEMA under the Clinton administration.
Now at his side at James Lee Witt Associates on a part-time basis are Clark, a retired Army general who unsuccessfully ran for the 2004 Democratic nomination for president, and Slater, transportation secretary under Clinton.
The Washington, D.C.-based crisis management consulting firm has about 50 employees and was founded in 2001.
Clark is a vice chairman for the company and will devote his work there to domestic and international security issues. Slater, who grew up in Marianna, also joined the firm last week as a vice chairman and will work on transportation and critical infrastructure issues.
Clark hit the ground running, having already booked a trip to Grand Cayman to offer the company's services for coping with cleanup issues from Hurricane Ivan. The island's legislature agreed to hire the company to help the nation rebuild and prepare for future disasters, said company senior vice president Barry Scanlon.
Clark said the work at Grand Cayman is in line with his general duties at the company.
"I will be working across the spectrum of preparations, assessments, risk assessments, evaluations for natural and man-made disasters and post-disaster mitigation, planning and efforts," Clark said Tuesday.
"He's very well-respected," Scanlon said. "It will help us grow the firm internationally and domestically."
Clark's office said Wednesday that his work with Witt's company is part-time work that won't detract from his time running Wesley K. Clark and Associates LLC, a Little Rock-based strategic advisory and consulting firm. The former presidential candidate will also continue to operate his own political action committee and campaign for Democratic nominee John Kerry through the Nov. 2 election.
Witt's company is expected to open an office in Little Rock next month.
Slater will keep other irons in the fire, too. He will keep his position as partner for Patton Boggs LLP, a Washington, D.C.-based public policy law firm and campaign for Kerry, as well.
"I'm very excited about the opportunity to work with James Lee Witt and General Clark," Slater said. "I know them both to be leaders in their respective areas of interest, and transportation is a critical part of any emrgency management challenge, so I look forward to applying my own expertise there."
Slater said he hopes to find common ground with his work for Patton Boggs and with Witt.
Witt will continue his work as president and chief executive of the International Code Council, a nonprofit organization that develops the codes used to construct residential and commercial buildings.
Well, Witt got a job didn't he?
******
July 24, 1996, Wednesday
Officials give conflicting reports on Flight 800;
President Clinton also dispatched James Lee Witt, director of the Federal Emergency Management Administration, to monitor the situation.
******
James Lee Witt Associates, LLC
James Lee Witt
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Washington, DC
Wesley Clark
Vice Chairman and Senior Advisor
Washington, DC
Rodney E. Slater
Vice Chairman and Senior Advisor
Washington, DC
Let's prompt Fox News to give to them everything he actually developed to date for the $500,000 he was given.
Anti Blanco, anti-Clinton, Anti-Witt Sarcasm Torpedo ARMED. FIRE!!
By the way, aside from corrupt Cronyism and the DNC, WTF is this Clinton stooge doing down here anyway? The only "bimbo eruptions" down in NO concern rape. Oh wait, never mind...
Now more than ever, prayers for ALL ! (Prayers for the outlying Parishes, prayers for Bush that he makes appointments to the Supreme Court that preserve our freedoms !)
Follow the money!
http://www.nndb.com/people/058/000049908/
James Lee Witt
Born: 6-Jan-1944
Birthplace: Paris, AR
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Government
Level of fame: Niche
Executive summary: FEMA Director 1993-2001
Born in Paris, Arkansas but grew up in Dardanelle, Witt founded Witt Construction in 1968, and then was elected a county judge in 1970. Bill Clinton selected him in 1988 to head the Arkansas Office of Emergency Services, and Witt moved with Clinton to Washington to head FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Administration, which at the same time was elevated to cabinet-level. Clinton used FEMA more than any other president, declaring disasters 348 times. Witt now heads a disaster consulting firm, James Lee Witt Associates, LLC.
During the 3 October 2000 televised debate between Presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore, Bush made the point of thanking FEMA for their help over fires in Texas while he was Governor. Gore responded with "I accompanied James Lee Witt down to Texas when those fires broke out." Unfortunately for Gore, the truth is he did not go to Texas in any sort of official capacity; he actually was there to attend a fundraiser and happened into some FEMA officials at the airport. Witt was not present. D'oh.
Wife: Lea Ellen Hodges Witt (one son)
Director of FEMA April 1993 to January 2001
I agree, but I've looked at "the plan" and its quite inadequate. But hey don't believe me, just read what those asked to implement it thought: Law Officers, Overwhelmed, Are Quitting the Force, NY Times (FR post here)
A Baton Rouge police officer said he had a friend on the New Orleans force who told him he threw his badge out a car window in disgust just after fleeing the city into neighboring Jefferson Parish as the hurricane approached. The Baton Rouge officer would not give his name, citing a department policy banning comments to the news media.
The officer said he had also heard of an incident in which two men in a New Orleans police cruiser were stopped in Baton Rouge on suspicion of driving a stolen squad car. The men were, in fact, New Orleans officers who had ditched their uniforms and were trying to reach a town in north Louisiana, the officer said.
"They were doing everything to get out of New Orleans," he said. "They didn't have the resources to do the job, or a plan, so they left."
The press release is there now:
http://www.ieminc.com/Whats_New/Press_Releases/release.htm
Opensecrets.org shows that Beriwal donates only to Republicans.
Preparing for Hurricane Isabel: James Lee Witt
Miami Fl: Is FEMA better prepared for the aftermath of a hurricane than they were for Hurricane Andrew when it hit south Florida in 92?
James Lee Witt: The state and local governments worked hard to prepare and make sure they were better able to cope than 8 years ago. And while I was at FEMA, I worked hard to make sure that agency was better prepared as well.
Let's see if I have this straight; IEM was hired to develop a disaster plan for NO -- and now Jamie Witt has been hired to what -- CYA the disaster plan for NO?
Maybe her plan wasn't followed :-)
This is really starting to get really interesting.
No wonder the old Clintoon whores are trying to blame GW for what they have done to the State of La and N O's.
Looks like somebody needs to point the finger at Jamie boy.
I think so
The NO Officals down there are in huge trouble for what happen and they know it
Is Wesley Clark coming down to NO, too?
Thanks for posting the connection between Witt and TWA 800.
I was getting ready to post this search of this slimey bastard and TWA 800. Below is the link to the search of James Witt TWA 800.
http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=James%20Witt%20TWA%20800
I thought he was just hired today? Did I miss something?
Is this the plan that had only partial funding? They didn't have the money to put together the evacuation part of it? This stuff is really gettin confusing.
Great find!
It's hard to believe that Blanco is this stupid. Whose hand puppet is she anyway?
Because I'm an INCOMPETENT IDIOT!!!
Okay, you all can call me stupid, but I have to ask: wouldn't Witt coming down to "oversee" this catastrophy be a conflict of interest?
I mean, it's his plan that has failed.
Why not? I saw Algore down there today. Why not just set up a campaign office for RATS in N.O. while they have their VOTERS & "VICTIMS" in one location?!!!
"Okay, you all can call me stupid, but I have to ask: wouldn't Witt coming down to "oversee" this catastrophy be a conflict of interest? "
He will serve the role that Jamie Gorelick served on the 911 Omission Panel. To turn the blame from the rats onto President Bush.
Mary Landrieu's Louisiana crime family. Mitchell Landrieu, Louisiana Lt. Governor, is Mary's brother.
Clinton's excerpted comments to Larry King tonight in a telephone interview.
KING: You're going to be in Houston I know on Monday and then you head to Asia and former President Bush will be with us on Monday night. What do you make of this whole occurrence? Could this have -- the levees, could something have been done? What's your read on this, Mr. President?
CLINTON: Well, I do believe we have to -- we probably have to wait a little bit for the emergency to die down and for us to deal with it before we know that. I know that in 1995, some people drowned and I know that we started a levee improvement program but whether they would ever have been able to sustain water at this level of power I don't know.
I heard the man from the Corps of Engineers, the officer saying he didn't believe they'd ever been designed to withstand this, so I can't say but I think the erosion of the wetlands played a role, lots of issues. But right now we need to get everybody to safety, get them food, get them water, get them decent shelter and start thinking about the future. That's what I'm working on. I know it's what Governor Blanco is working on.
Full transcript here
What else is new?!
Reminds me of a Far Side cartoon where a brick is thrown through a window, containing a note, "Windows Broken? Call 555-1212"
Yes.... I'm wondering about that too. Who is pulling her strings -- or should I say where did she come from and how did she get elected? It appeared to me that Mary Landrieu is calling the shots for the State; which suprises me that if the Gov is incompetent why didn't the Lt. Gov. Landrieu step in and call the shots instead of State Senatory Landrieu?
Mary Landrieu was banging the pot for money before the hurricane even hit. They're going to attach themselves directly to the money spigot like a bunch of ticks while Blanco takes the fall. Blanco should have stuck to teaching high school.
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